1. A system for production of algae, the system comprising:
a CO2 source; and
a bioreactor supplied with concentrated CO2 from the CO2 source, the bioreactor configured to encourage accelerated growth and reproduction of algae as well as to enable development of a more concentrated final algal bloom;
in which optical opacity limits on seed level and bloom concentration are circumvented by an optical thinning effect which enables greater light penetration into more concentrated algae suspensions;
wherein the greater light penetration enables higher level initial seeding or inoculation of the bioreactor bloom space;
wherein the higher level of initial seed accelerates blooming as a result of starting higher on an upward-bending nonlinear algal growth curve;
and in which a normally inaccessible upper section of the nonlinear algal growth curve is conventionally inaccessible owing to optical opacity of concentrated algal suspensions;
and in which the normally inaccessible upper section of the nonlinear growth curve is rendered accessible by the optical thinning effect which enables light penetration into optically thinned suspensions of concentrated algae.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical thinning effect is produced by slinging an algae suspension as thin watery sheets off the perimeter edges of a rotating auger blade which lifts algae suspension out of a pool, elevates the lifted suspension, and slings it outward by centrifugal force to form optically thin watery sheets,
and wherein optical thinness of the slinging sheets enables improved optical penetration by rays from a light source shining through the slinging sheets.
3. The system of claim 1, in which the algae suspension from the bioreactor proceeds to a flow-through separation tank after blooming,
wherein the flow velocity of algae suspension through the separation tank is reduced, at constant flow rate, by means of enlarged tank diameter,
and wherein the reduced flow velocity is low enough to permit algae that have flagella or other motility means to swim effectively against the flow current when presented with an upstream or side-stream attractant,
and wherein the direction of algal swimming is toward the attractant,
and wherein algal swimming toward the attractant produces a concentrating effect on the algal suspension,
and wherein the concentration of algae proximal to the attractant is made higher by the concentrating effect than the concentration of algae at points located progressively downstream from the attractant and still within the main flow of the flow-through separation tank.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the separation tank contains a main flow exit port and a secondary exit port which is designated as a harvest exit tee,
wherein the attractant is located at a position proximal to the mouth of the harvest exit tee,
and wherein the mouth of the harvest exit tee is sufficiently narrow to raise the harvest exit flow velocity to exceed the capacity for algae to swim against the harvest exit current,
wherein algae swimming toward the attractant from the main separation tank are sucked into the harvest exit tee upon reaching the attractant,
wherein the harvest exit tee outflow leads to an algal harvest output port,
wherein the concentration of algae harvested at the harvest output port is higher than the concentration of algae entering the separation tank,
and wherein the main flow of the flow through exit tank at points downstream of the attractant and having bypassed the harvest exit tee contains a reduced concentration of algae, relative to the concentration of algae entering the separation tank,
and wherein the main flow of the flow through exit tank having bypassed the harvest exit tee exits the separation tank through the main flow exit port,
and wherein flow exiting the main flow exit port is recirculated to the original bioreactor.
5. The system of claim 4, in which the attractant is one or more attractants selected from among a group of attractants consisting of a light source, a nutrient source, a carbon dioxide source, an attractive water temperature, and an attractive water pH,
and wherein the rest of the separation tank is dark and relatively devoid of the chosen attractant or combination of attractants.
6. A system for production of algae, the system comprising:
a hydrocarbon cracking reactor configured to generate a stream of concentrated CO2 byproduct; and
a bioreactor configured to produce heavier-than-water algae, the bioreactor supplied, at least in part, with CO2 from the stream of concentrated CO2 byproduct;
wherein the hydrocarbon cracking reactor produces H2 as its main product.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the hydrocarbon cracking reactor is a two-stage steam reactor operating with steam stages at two different temperatures, optimized for cracking methane as the principal component of natural-gas.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the CO2 source is a CC (carbon-capture) clean-coal-fired power plant, the CC power plant producing electricity as a public utility and concentrated CO2 byproduct as the CO2 source in the form of a supercritical fluid (SCF-CO2).
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the SCF-CO2 is decompressed to concentrated CO2 gas and introduced into the bioreactor.
10. The system of claim 1 wherein the CO2 source is a CC (carbon-capture) gas-fired power plant, the CC power plant producing electricity as public utility and concentrated CO2 byproduct as the CO2 source in the form of a supercritical fluid (SCF-CO2).
11. The system of claim 10, wherein the SCF-CO2 is decompressed to concentrated CO2 gas and introduced into the bioreactor.
12. A process of ocean-amplified CO2 capture,
wherein algae plus nutrient are seeded into the ocean instead of nutrient-alone; the process comprising:
land-based capture of concentrated CO2 from a land-based CO2 source;
land-based conversion of captured CO2 to heavier-than-water marine algae in at least one bioreactor configured to encourage the rapid growth and reproduction of the heavier-than-water marine algae as ocean seed;
transport of the heavier-than-water marine algae as ocean seed to seaports for ocean distribution and dispersal with added micro-nutrients in order to seed ocean-amplified blooming (further growth and rapid reproduction at sea\u2014essentially secondary blooming on a vast ocean scale);
wherein the ocean-amplified blooming occurs essentially selectively for the heavier-than-water species of marine algae by virtue of the heavier-than-water marine algae being distributed, dispersed, and seeded into the ocean water at higher levels than existing natural buoyant ocean algae, the higher levels selectively accelerating ocean blooming rates of the heavier-than-water marine algae by virtue of seeding the ocean with marine algae seed harvested from the at least one land-based bioreactor,
wherein ocean seeding occurs higher than normal on a nonlinear algal growth curve and produces a species-selective dominance of the ocean algal bloom,
wherein the higher that the ocean blooming starts on the growth curve, the faster it proceeds, if sufficient nutrient is present or provided.
13. The process of claim 12 in which the species-selective ocean algal bloom dominance is further enhanced by nutrient selection,
and in which nutrient selection for E. huxleyi coccolithophorid marine algae blooming includes nutrients which are deficient in phosphate,
wherein phosphate deficiency, while other nutrients are concurrently provided in abundance, promotes prodigious E. huxleyi growth at sea, essentially to the exclusion of blooming by other species of marine algae, including buoyant algae, in the seeded ocean area.
14. The process of claim 12, wherein transport to seaport of the heavier-than-water marine algae seed occurs by flat-bed truck, flat rail car, or barge;
wherein the flat-bed truck, flat rail car, or barge carry the marine algae seed in stasis-supporting cargo containers which are transferrable by crane or other lifting means from one flat-bed transportation means to another, and
wherein the cargo containers are designed to maintain conditions in support of a healthy stasis condition for the heavier-than-water marine algae seed.
15. The process of claim 14, wherein the stasis-supporting cargo containers may be loaded onto ocean freighters docked at seaports, the ocean freighters then distributing the stasis-supporting cargo containers to floating seed repositories at sea;
wherefrom the stasis-supporting cargo containers may be transferred to seed dispersal boats which fan out from the floating seed repositories to disperse and dispense the heavier-than-water marine algae seed (plus micronutrients) into the ocean for ocean-amplified blooming to proceed, along with ocean-amplified CO2 capture as the heavier-than-water marine algae bloom prodigiously at sea.
16. The process of claim 15, wherein the micro-nutrient doses are metered to support heavier-than-water ocean-amplified algal blooming up to the light penetration (algal opacity) limit and then run out.
17. The process of claim 16, wherein the ocean-amplified bloom dies after the metered micro-nutrient doses run out;
and wherein the dead heavier-than-water amplified bloom loses motility and sinks rapidly, clearing the ocean photic zone before the end of each month and enabling restored light penetration into the photic zone to support another amplified bloom following a next month’s seeding.
18. The process of claim 17 in which up to 12 bloomsyear may be seeded and achieved, with each ocean-amplified bloom reaching the light penetration (algal opacity) limit before it dies and sinks,
and in which accumulated amplified ocean blooming yields up to 14 GtCyr of heavier-than-water algae (correspondingly capturing 14 GtCyr of atmospheric CO2) globally for each 1-3 GtCyr of seeding with land-based heavier-than-water algae seed produced by the land-based bioreactors,
wherein the predominant heavier-than-water ocean algal bloom species are determined by the species of land-based bioreactor seed algae harvested from the bioreactor,
and wherein the bioreactor seed algae are dominated by initially preseeding the bioreactor with a purified culture of the desired marine algae species,
and wherein the desired marine algae species are selected from a group consisting of coccolithophore (e.g., E. huxleyi) and siliceous diatoms.
19. The process of claim 17, wherein the seeding of amplified ocean blooming is restricted to the vast open ocean that is further out from shore, well beyond the realm of coastal waters and beyond the shallow coastal-shelf sea floor, out in the open seas where much deeper water prevails,
wherein species-selective bloom dominance and rapid sinking quickly carries the dead heavier-than-water algae below the ocean thermocline of the open seas and all the way to the deep-sea floor,
wherein deep ocean temperatures at the deep-sea floor are quite low\u2014near to zero degrees centrigade,
and wherein low deep-sea temperatures preserve the dead algae and slow andor suppress the onset of secondary bacterial action, algal decay, eutrophication, and post-bloom anoxia which would otherwise deplete ocean-dissolved oxygen,
and wherein the slowing or suppression of bacterial action at low temperature at the deep-sea floor delays the onset of eutrophication and post bloom anoxia to an extent enabling ocean sedimentation, often referred to as marine \u201csnow\u201d, to essentially bury the dead algae before significant post-bloom anoxia or eutrophication can develop.
20. The process of claim 18, wherein approximately 1 GtCyr of seed triggers amplified ocean blooming of up to 14 GtCyr of heavier-than-water algae;
but wherein approximately another 2 GtCyr of seed are needed to satiate marine grazer appetites so that they leave the approximately 1 GtCyr of seed uneaten so that it remains to trigger the amplified ocean blooming of the up to 14 GtCyr of heavier-than-water algae and corresponding photosynthetic andor coccolithogenic (calcification) capture of up to 14 GtCyr of atmospheric CO2,
and in which ocean seeding with approximately 3 GtCyr of algal seed produced by land-based bioreactors provides both the 2 GtCyr of algae to satiate the grazer appetites and the remaining 1 GtCyr of uneaten seed that remain to trigger the amplified ocean blooming of the up to 14 GtCyr of heavier-than-water algae.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An electrostatic discharge protection circuit, comprising:
a diode chain coupled between a power supply voltage end and a control node;
a control voltage generator configured to generate a control voltage to the control node in response to a first current flowing through the diode chain;
a discharger configured to discharge a second current from the power supply voltage end to a ground voltage end in response to the control voltage,
wherein the diode chain comprises a plurality of P-well regions formed in an N-well region, diodes formed in the respective P-well regions, and a resistor coupled between the diodes,
wherein the diodes include a PN junction formed by implanting an N-type impurity into a first upper portion of the each P-well region; and
a plurality of parasitic polar transistors each having an emitter in the first upper portion of the P-well region, a base in the P-well region, and a collector in the N-well region.
2. The electrostatic discharge protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the control voltage generator includes a resistor coupled between the control node and the ground voltage end.
3. The electrostatic discharge protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the control voltage generator is configured to generate the control voltage based on a voltage drop that occurs between both ends of the control voltage generator as the first current passes through the control voltage generator.
4. The electrostatic discharge protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the control voltage generator is configured to supply the control voltage to the control node.
5. The electrostatic discharge protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the discharger includes a transistor having a drain coupled with the power supply voltage end and a source coupled with the ground voltage end and receiving the control voltage as an input of a gate.
6. The electrostatic discharge protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the PN junction is formed by doping a P-type impurity in a higher concentration in a second upper portion of the each P-well region than other portions of the each P-well region.
7. The discharge protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the N-well region is formed over a P-type substrate.
8. The discharge protection circuit of claim 1, wherein the parasitic polar transistors increase a voltage drop between two ends of the control voltage generator.
9. The discharge protection circuit of claim 1, wherein an N-type impurity is doped at a higher concentration in an upper portion of the N-well region between the P-well regions than in other portions of the N-well region,
wherein a power supply voltage is applied to the upper portion of the N-well region to electrically insulate the diodes.